Privatizing Poverty Series Part 7: The rise of left-leaning neo-liberalism

This blog began last year by marking the 50th anniversary of a new approach to economic development and poverty reduction. The previous model had sought to copy the pathways of advanced economies, placing emphasis on infrastructure and industrial development. However, this approach failed to kick-start self-generating economic growth. Most people remained outside the formal sector,…

Privatizing Poverty Series Part 6: Meet TINA (again)

As discussed in the fifth post in this series, right-leaning neo-liberalism is a political project dressed up as economic policy. Free market fundamentalism is not the raison d’etre of right-leaning neo-liberalism but a means to the further end of protecting the owners of property and extending their influence. The ultimate goal, as Ludwig von Mises’s…

Privatizing Poverty Series Part 5: A uniquely appropriate caricature

As discussed in the fourth post in this series, right-leaning neo-liberalism’s focus on protecting property rights is an exercise in raw power. Its underlying logic is the other Golden Rule: he who has the gold rules. Seen in this light, free market fundamentalism is not the raison d’etre of right-leaning neo-liberalism. It is simply a…

Privatizing Poverty Part 4: Right-leaning neo-liberalism’s obsession with property rights runs through slavery

The third post in this blog series discussed how right-leaning neo-liberalism, as opposed to classical liberalism, places property rights above all other rights. This means that property holders are a protected class, overriding the political and civil rights of everyone else. It is highly anti-democratic. Right-leaning neo-liberalism’s obsession with property rights over all others appears…

Privatizing Poverty Part 3: The anti-democratic aims of right-leaning neo-liberalism

The first post in this blog series noted that the ILO, USAID, and Word Bank began implementing programs that targeted the poor directly a half-century ago as part of a broader effort to redistribute wealth downward in order to overcome the monopoly on economic gains from market transactions by the politically powerful. The second blog…

Privatizing Poverty Part 2: Market-based development vs structural adjustment―same same, but different

Some comments on the first post in this blog series linked market-based development to the structural adjustment programs (SAPs) pursued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. It’s a tempting analogy, especially since both economic approaches have been labeled “neo-liberal”. In fact, these two concepts have very different intellectual histories as well as…

Privatizing Poverty Part 1: Marking a half-century of market-led development

The year 2022 marks an important anniversary in the field of economic development and poverty reduction. It was exactly 50 years ago that the shift from top-down industrial development to direct targeting of the poor began. The first salvo was launched by the International Labor Organization (ILO), whose April 1972 study of the persistent lack…

Reimagining Vietnam’s Microfinance Sector

ACCESS has supported Vietnam’s microfinance sector since 2010. The following year, the government issued its microfinance development strategy, which raised hopes that the sector would enter a new growth phase that would enable it to make a significant contribution to financial inclusion. However, a decade later, the reality is that Viet Nam’s microfinance sector continues…

Recommended policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Asia-Pacific region

A decade ago, the finance ministers of the Asia-Pacific region established the Asia-Pacific Financial Inclusion Forum (APFIF) to identify policies and regulations that could expand the reach of financial services to the underserved, especially those at the base of the economy. Since its establishment in 2010, APFIF has contributed to policy reform and capacity building across…

Entrepreneurship and “magical thinking” about poverty reduction

Two economists who have spent their careers focused on understanding and fighting poverty, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, recently published an excerpt from their book Good Economics for Hard Times in Foreign Affairs magazine entitled “How Poverty Ends: The Many Paths to Progress—and Why They Might Not Continue”. In it, they argue that no one…